


In A World....

by ThatwasJustaDream



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, And coffee, Captain Swan AU Week 2016, F/M, Multiverse Theory, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 05:50:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7496283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatwasJustaDream/pseuds/ThatwasJustaDream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A birthday ficlet for a fellow comm- member at 1_million_words: Just a little fluffy Captain Swan from a universe far away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In A World....

**Author's Note:**

  * For [guineamania](https://archiveofourown.org/users/guineamania/gifts).



"Excuse me... do you believe in multiple universes?"

Emma thought (hoped?) that the voice behind her in line at her favorite coffee shop was asking someone else. But when no reply hit her ears, she stopped fishing singles out of her wallet and turned to look back at him.

Handsome man. Pirate smile. Dancing eyes. Just the kind of trouble she avoided like the flu, or the 'T' at rush hour.

"Is that the best you've got?" she asked, facing forward again.

"It was a serious question," he insisted. "Posed politely enough, I thought."

"I've heard of the concept, but...no. I don't think I believe in them," she stepped forward as the line moved, glancing ahead to see how frigging much longer she might be trapped here in this universe with him. "And you're still hitting on me and...it's still a really lame attempt."

"I'm most definitely not," he said it in a tone of voice that suggested she wasn't his kind at all- and it actually helped cut the tension for her, a little. "It's just....I see you here a lot, and I thought maybe we could be friends since I'm pretty sure we're together, you and me, in another place and time."

"Are you a physicist?" She asked, keeping her gaze ahead, determined to to end this now. "Or an escapee from an insane asymlum?"

"I'm a maths teacher," he said. "Math teacher. Still getting used to the phrasing on this side of the pond."

Mercifully, another clerk stepped up behind the counter and the line split in two. By the time Emma ordered and paid up, he was headed toward the door, Americano in hand, giving her a nod and a wink as he left.

Just like that. Left. 

She wasn't used to creepers giving up so easily. 

~*~

"What am I? In this.... other place?" She asked him.

He hadn't approached her again, even though they'd been in the shop together more than once in the weeks that followed. She noticed that he stayed and sat in a booth as often as he took his to go - was doing so now, flipping slowly through a techie magazine with one hand, combing fingers along his beard absently with the other as she walked in. 

"I thought," he only glanced up briefly. "that you didn't believe..."

"But you do. Or was that just bullshit?"

"I definitely believe in the multiverse," he looked up at her, pushing the paper away. "It's my religion; my only hope that we are not simply here and then gone."

She noticed he didn't invite her to sit.

"So... what am I? I this place where we're supposedly together? And what are you?"

"You are a very powerful woman. A queen. A keeper of magic and hope and... I'm a bit of a rogue, I'm afraid. Dubious at best. We'll probably end up breaking each other's hearts, there."

"Did you not hit on me because I'm a woman? In this particular world, are you not into..."

"I didn't hit on you, because you're closed off," he said. "There's a wall around you - like a prison, except you built it yourself. If you ever wondered....some of us on the other side? We can see that wall."

She debated walking away, but...

"I'm a private investigator," she said. "For a law firm. I spend all day helping attorneys prove that the people on the other side of a case are crooked - that they're even evil scum, sometimes. Sadly.. it's almost never difficult to prove it's true."

"That would harden anybody," he said. "But I'm thinking the job was a natural fit for you...because of all that came before it. Am I right?"

"Are you sure you're a math teacher?" She opened her bag, and started to turn to go get in line. "And not a therapist? Or a life coach?"

"Maybe somewhere," he gave her a smile, but let her go - went back to his magazine. "Probably, somewhere... I am."

~*~

"I didn't think teachers made 'five star restaurant' pay," she said.

"I don't, but some events call for a big splurge," he lifted his glass to ask for a clinck of their martini glasses, and she lifted hers. "I think this one demands it."

The next time she'd gone for coffee, she had put down work long enough to drink hers at the shop - and when he walked in, newspaper in hand, she'd asked him to join her. Over the months they talked about everything but multiverse theory; sometimes chatting for only a few minutes, sometimes for an hour. They talked about small things and big picture stuff - about hopes, dreams, disappointments and, to her surprise, she'd started to feel the wall crumble.

He must have seen it falling, too, because he'd invited her to dinner.

"How do you think we're doing ....out there?" she asked him now.

"I told you... those two will probably break each other's hearts," he said, picking up the menu to give it a look. "Let's leave them to it from now on, and worry about ourselves. Not like we can go help them out, anyway - they're probably a billion miles away."

"I've never had anyone who didn't let me down," she said, reaching a finger to pull his menu toward the table; to urge him to look at her. "Who didn't leave or send me away when things got more complicated."

"You do, now," he said. 

"I want to believe that."

"I'm patient," he said. "I'll prove it."

"How patient?" she asked, watching him seem to think his response over.

"Want to know a secret?" He leaned in to whisper it. "I don't really like coffee."

He winked and she laughed involuntarily - so hard she snorted - and heads turned at the posh tables surrounding them.

~*~

She'd told him the date once, months ago, and he had told her his. But it was only in passing - a conversation about astrology, not something she ever expected him to remember. So when dessert came later and it was a dozen tiny cupcakes, each with its own candle, she tried not to cry but failed.

And she felt the wall come tumbling down.


End file.
